The show will feature survivors of dating abuse and the family of Yeardley Love, who was murdered by her boyfriend in 2010. To find your local time and channel to watch Katie, please click here. To learn more about the One Love Foundation in honor of Yeardley Love, please click here.

Today celebrates the 18th Anniversary of the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA) and asks Congress to support reauthorization of the landmark legislation.

The Hotline was created by the legislation and has helped millions of women, men and families since its creation. The Hotline receives more than 22,000 calls a month from victims of domestic violence and their families and friends.

“The Hotline is open 24-hours a day, every day and it is a life-line for women, men, children and families in danger and offers victims help and hope,” said Dyanne Purcell, CEO of the National Domestic Violence Hotline. “We are honored to have helped more than 2 million callers since The Hotline was created by the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA).”

United States House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith recently declared, “It is essential that programs like these are in place to protect victims not just from physical bruises but from the emotional and mental scars as well. Funding through VAWA has helped women escape abuse and rebuild their lives.”

Vice President Joe Biden today also praised the passage of the Violence Against Women Act saying it gives law enforcement and courts more tools to combat domestic violence and hold offenders accountable. “We created a national hotline to direct victims to life-saving assistance and since VAWA passed, annual rates of domestic violence have dropped by more than 60 percent,” said Biden.

VAWA represents our federal government’s coordinated community response to sexual assault and family violence services. Rape crisis centers, family violence centers, law enforcement, prosecutors and the courts all form a part of this response.

It’s not always easy to tell at the beginning of a relationship if it will become abusive.

In fact, many abusers may seem absolutely perfect on the surface — as if they are the dream partner — in the early stages of a relationship. Possessive and controlling behaviors don’t always appear overnight, but rather emerge and intensify as the relationship grows.

If you’re beginning to feel as if your partner or a loved one’s partner is becoming abusive, there are a few behaviors that you can look out for. Watch out for these red flags and if you’re experiencing one or more of them in your relationship, call The Hotline to talk about what’s going on:

Embarrassing or putting you down

Looking at you or acting in ways that scare you

Controlling who you see, where you go, or what you do

Keeping you or discouraging you from seeing your friends or families

Taking your money or refusing to give you money for expenses

Preventing you from making your own decisions

Telling you that you are a bad parent or threatening to harm or take away your children

Preventing you from working or attending school

Blaming you for the abuse, or acting like it’s not really happening

Destroying your property or threatening to hurt or kill your pets

Intimidating you with guns, knives or other weapons

Shoving, slapping, choking or hitting you

Attempting to stop you from pressing charges

Threatening to commit suicide because of something you’ve done

Threatening to hurt or kill you

Pressuring you to have sex when you don’t want to or do things sexually you’re not comfortable with

Pressuring you to use drugs or alcohol

Preventing you from using birth control or pressuring you to become pregnant when you’re not ready

Domestic violence doesn’t look the same in every relationship because every relationship is different. But one thing most abusive relationships have in common is that the abusive partner does many different kinds of things to have more power and control over their partners.

If you’re concerned about some of these things happening in your relationship, please feel free to give us a call at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

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This website was supported by Grant Number 90EV0426 from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Its contents are solely the responsibility of The Hotline and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.

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